Thursday, August 03, 2006

I think that I shall never see a poem as beautiful as a tree

But this one comes close...

by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Anita Barrows and Joanna Macy
From the book Rilke's Book of Hours: Love Poems to God

I'm too alone in the world, yet not alone enough
to make each hour holy.
I'm too small in the world, yet not small enough
to be simply in your presence, like a thing--
just as it is.

I want to know my own will
and to move with it.
And I want, in the hushed moments
when the nameless draws near,
to be among the wise ones--
or alone.

I want to mirror your immensity.
I want never to be too weak or too old
to bear the heavy, lurching image of you.

I want to unfold.
Let no place in me hold itself closed,
for where I am closed, I am false.
I want to stay clear in your sight.

I would describe myself
like a landscape I've studied
at length, in detail;
like a word I'm coming to understand;
like a pitcher I pour from at mealtime;
like my mother's face;
like a ship that carried me
when the waters raged.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

hrmmmm. I think the reason I've not replied to this site is because you are always cross posting (1) and (2) I just don't know what to say about poetry.

ya know :)

8:26 PM  

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